they are inferior to him in the extent of their dominion as well as in the quality of their dignity power and authority There is a Providence in Scripture attributed to Governors (q) Acts 24.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Graec. who as they sit on their thrones above all their subjects so that heigth is the embleme of the advantage they have to behold and a Monitor of the duty lying on them to take care of all that are under their charge But the most vigilant Princes with all their faithful Ministers who are as so many eyes and ears to them find it difficult enough to oversee and provide for the inhabitants of one Kingdome Whereas the King of Kings hath the Heaven for his throne (r) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orpheus Isai 66.1 Psal 97.9 and the Earth for his footstool and as he sits higher so he sees further the◠they From his throne he beholds all the world the meanest are not below his cognizance nor the greatest above his reach He sees and rules all which gave ground to that Egyptian Hieroglyphick which represented God by an eye in a scepter the emblems of Providence and Authority And in the sacred pages the same thing is expressed by the Phrase of Beholding from his Throne (s) Psal 33.14 Isai 63.14 For the Divine Majesty is no idle spectator but improves the heighth of his seat and the universal prospect he hath from thence to the good of all mankind His eye denotes his care for he sees the necessities (t) Psal 34.15 Gen. 22.14 Deus videbit al. providebit and considers the wants and desires of all men and of every particular and orders his supplies accordingly So that his Providence and Dominion is over all the earth and no Monarch need account it a dishonour to bow before this mighty Lord and his glorious throne § 4. Most heartily we beseech thee with thy favour to behold our most gracious Soveraign Lord King CHARLES Since all mankind is under the eye and care of God no doubt he hath an especial regard to Kings and Princes on whose safety the welfare of all the rest next under his own providence doth depend (u) Nihil est illi principi Deo acceptius quam concilia coetusque hominûm quae Civitates appellantur earumque rectores servatores hinc profecti hûc revertuntur Cicer. som Scip. He cheifly delights in men as they are united into Societies by charity and laws and for the preservation of these unions his principal care is for those he hath set over them who are the bond of the rest We may therefore cheerfully pray for an especial and more particular providence over our gracious King because God doth usually grant this and because he needs it more then ordinary persons do His duty is more difficult his abundance exposeth him to more temptations and his heigth to more dangers then any of his people and yet his preservation is far more necessary and of universal concernment (x) 2 Sam. 18.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plutar. vit Pelopid Cum tot ab hac animâ populorum vita salusque Pendeat Lucan for he is worth ten thousand of us and we had need pray heartily to God to save him who doth defend us all He stands in need of more wisdome to direct him more power to protect him more care to preserve him then other men and therefore we pray that the King of heaven will shew a particular favour to him A pious and religious King doth as earnestly seek and as much valew a favourable look from the Majesty of heaven as any of his Courtiers do a smile from his countenance (y) Psal 84.9 Psal 21.6 Psal 4. ver 7 8. Lord saith holy David look upon the face of thine anointed and thou wilt make me glad with the joy of thy Countenance yea more joyful then the worlding is in the encrease of his admired wealth And methinks it should fill our Souls with awful and noble thoughts of our glorious Lord God to see Kings in the light of whose countenance is life and whose favour is a dew upon the grass (z) Prov. 19.6 Chap. 16.15 courting so humbly and needing so mightily the favour of the Majesty of heaven Let us joyn our most hearty requests that what our deer Soveraign wants and wishes he may have if he were a Saul or a Nero we should sin in ceasing to pray for him (a) 1 Sam. 12.23 But no affections nor passions are too fervent no opportunities too often to call upon God for our gracious King who is our lawful and natural Liege Lord a just possesser of his Crown a worshiper of God a defender of the faith a maker of good laws and an executor of the same who secures our rights protects us from publique enemies and Private fraudes and endeavours to choose fit and faithful governours both for Church and State For such an one we must pray not only out of obedience to God and the Churches order but out of our private love and particular affection as St. Ambrose (b) Meque non solum officio publico debitas pendere preces sed etiam amore privato Amb. ep ad Gr. did for the Emperour Gratian. To quicken us whereunto we may do well to call to mind the miseries of the Church of God under persecuting heathens of old later furious Romanists and the particular calamities of this Church under the late usurpers and then we shall discern what praise we owe to God and what love to our gracious King whose name ought to be so deer to us that in our daily office we should wish it written in heaven and registred in the book of life as well as in the leaves of the Churches devotions § 5. And so replenish him with the Grace of thy holy Spirit that he may alwaies incline to thy will and walk in thy way Grace is so constant a companion and so certain an effect of the Divine favour that the Greek expresseth both by one word So that if we can prevail with God to look favourably on our Soveraign we may be assured he will give bountifully to him And since the first and choicest of his largesses is the Grace of his holy Spirit we first beg that he may have a constant and bountiful supply of that of which he needs a double portion For the temptations of a Prince are many to pride and luxury to carelesness and vanity his faithful friends very few who either will or dare inform or advise him without partiality and self interest his Concerns are weighty since the welfare of Church and State depend upon them his example prevalent and usually made the incouragement of virtue or the excuse of vice All which declares the danger of Governors to be very great to fall into evil waies and their preservation from them to be the greatest blessing wherefore all faithful subjects and good men cease
come with Desire to pray with zeal and sincerity here is without calling in any aids but that of Heaven Matter enough in the curious Order clear Method significant Phrases and strong Arguments to quicken our affections and enlarge our Souls in holy and fervent wishes desires and meditations which is the Prayer of the Inward Man the Life and Soul of this Duty All which is done by giving a Natural and facile Analysis of the Method and by making plain and practical Observations on the parts together with a literal Paraphrase of the whole By which none can imagine I should give a borrowed lustre to the Prayers which they had not of their own for I only prove they had it before and I find all in them that I observe from them which I hope will be so plain that all Men will see the inference and be able in their own Devotions to find out much more Now in this Essay I shall hope to serve three sorts of Persons 1. The Ignorant who may be instructed hereby to pray with understanding Not that we suppose these Offices so obscure as to need a Comment for nothing can be more plainly expressed nor is it possible to invent words more universally understood but many that understand the sense of the words have not Art enough to discern the Order Method and Connexion of the Prayers nor skil to find out the Arguments that press every request or the places of Scripture which furnish these Devotions with significant Phrases nor judgment to Describe what disposition of Soul doth suit the several parts of them And they that consider that the greatest number are such will think it seasonable to help such with a plain and easy Explication But to pass these there are many in other things knowing Persons who rather for want of Consideration then judgment never took notice of the natural dependences of these prayers nor the true and full import of the expressions nor of the Graces to be exercised in the several Parts because they only attended the words but took no care to expatiate into holy meditations And if the former need a Master these want a Monitor lest they offend in a worse kind (o) Non tibi deputatur ad culpam quod invitus ignoras sed quod negligis quaerere quod ignoras Aug. de lib. arbitr lib. 3. c. 19. For Negligence is worse then simple Ignorance But I hope though all that is here be obvious yet something will be found which either was not known or not observed before and those things also such as may elevate the affections and make the Prayers more pleasing and more profitable 2. The devout servants of God and obedient Sons of the Church whose Care it is to pray daily in Publique and whose desire and endeavour is to do it well Might I be a Nethinim to hew wood and prepare fuel for the altars of their Hearts I should rejoice and it hath been my Care to suggest not alwaies the most Critical but the most practical sense which most directly tended to help Devotion for these Mens sake who no doubt have in their own hearts made many of these Observations before and I hope they will like them no worse for I shall like them better in hopes the same Spirit directed me and them But I hope that what I have done will besides its present assistance suggest a way to all devout Souls for making Pathetical and pious inlargements more and better then are to be found here that so our daily Offices may be full of life and pleasure and every day court us with new delights And I must affirm I have rather opened the top then searched the bottome of this rich Mine But suâ—e I am we had need to quicken our Devotion all we can not only for our own good but that our flames might thaw the hearts and lighten the eyes of the rest of the Congregation which scarce ever mind either Words or â—ense but are either sleepy or tired to the dishonour of God the discomfort of the Minister (p) Pauci mecum sunt in oratione hi ipsi vertiginosi hiantes assiduè se convertentes observantes quando Psalmorum cantor versus finiet quando ab Ecclesiâ velut à carcere ab orationis necessitate liberabuntur Basil conc 11. de servit and the ruine of their own Souls How happy should we be if by my endeavours and your Examples we might awaken such into a Sense of their Duty that these excellent Prayers might every where be said with an excellent spirit for the benefit of particulars and the good of the whole Church 3. The mistaken dissenters who hereby may be convinced and perhaps persuaded (q) Facilius vinci possunt quam persuaderi Hyeron that we can pray by this Form with as much zeal and more knowledg with as much Spirit and more Truth then by any other kind of Prayer And then it must appear that this Venerable Liturgie hath been falsly represented by such who would not have it seen truly lest it should be loved really (r) Credunt de nobis quae non probantur nolunt inquiri ne probentur non esse Tert. Ante nos incipiunt homines odisse quam nosse ne cognitos aut imitari possint aut damnare non possint Cyp. de idol Van. But if they are so much their own Masters as to read the Prayers seriously and view this little book with as much Charity as it was written with I shall hope either for their company at Prayers or at least to escape their censures for going thither For unless they be foolishly obstinate they either must love them or cannot hate them If they would love them and pray with us we shall be friends and if only the second be obtained we shall be quiet and even that is desirable These are the designes which began and incouraged this undertaking and that they are the sincere purposes of the Author his own Conscience doth testify and he hopes even those who approve not the Meanes must confess the end is good But that he should be so happy to obtain it in all is rather to be desired then expected and if it be succesful in any of these kinds he will not repent his pains If in none he is not the first that hath failed in accomplishing good Intentions And however he will have satisfaction in the Peace of a good Conscience (s) 2 Cor. 1.12 and may say with that noble Roman (t) si sequuta fuerit quae debuit fortuna nos omnes gaudebimus sin minùs ego tamen gaudebo Brutus ap Ciceronem If the success answer his sincerity it will be a cause of universal Joy if not he can rejoyce in his cordial intentions to do good For the Censures of furious zealots or the scoffings of profane Ishmaels he doth not value them being only unwilling to offend authority or true Piety Wherefore he doth
Rab. Sermo enim divinus secundum intelligentiae nostrae naturam se temperat nobis enim non sibi loquitur Hilar. in Psal 26. imitates our Phrases complies with our notions and hath laid down all necessary and fundamental truths so clearly that the meanest may understand them and yet in more curious points hath left such difficulties as may exercise the wits and allay the arrogance of the most knowing men Nor hath he in any part set down all that is directly tending to our salvation but to engage us diligently to read it all hath so prudently dispersed these necessary things that some of them are to be found every where and all in no one place but every part thereof is useful and none of it must be neglected much less contemned (d) Nulla ne verecundia tibi est dicere eorum quae Deus ipse loquitur nullam esse cognitionis utilitatem Chrysost Otiosum autem verbum dicere in S. Scriptura ingens blasphemia est Basil For like high hills the outward barrenness is recompensed by Mines and hidden treasures (e) Matth. 5.18 Non est litera in lege à quâ non pendeant magni montes Dictum Rab. and such the most difficult places yield to those that have skill and patience to dig into them And the Almighty hath not only shewed his care in the forming but also in the preserving of these Sacred Records which though they are the most antient in the world of undoubted credit and have been hated and opposed by Sathan and his instruments the great and wise ones of the world yet time power policy nor malice could never corrupt nor destroy them because God resolved to preserve them for our use upon whom the ends of the World are come § 3. Thirdly The Church hath done her part in complyance with the designs of Gods Mercy and Providence to deliver it safely to us and make it useful for us Hereupon the Catholick and faithful Christians discovered the frauds of Hereticks convinced the minds of unbelievers and sealed the truth of it with their blood And least any should pretend ignorance (f) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex Strom. 10. the governors and lights of the Church have carefully translated the Original Scripture into all Languages that every Nation might hear in their own Tongue the wonderful works of God Acts 2.11 After which pattern our Church hath made that elaborate exact and faithful Translation into the English tongue the like to which is not in any Nation (g) Anglicanae versionis Authores omni laude majores fuisse arguit accurata illa ad invidiam aliarum gentium elaborata versio Sixt. Amama praef ad Drus And now the Scripture hath learned our Language that it may instruct us in our own words and it must be wilful negligence if we do not understand them To prevent which it is not left to our liberty but we are injoyned to read or hear it every day both at Morning and at Evening Prayer according to the practice of the Jews (h) Acts 13.17 2 Cor. 3.15 Luke 4.7 Nehem. 8.8 who read the Law in their Synagogues however on the Sabbath and on other daies they tasted no food till they had read a Section of it either in publique or private (i) Ita fecerunt Christiani teste Clem. Alexandr and every man knows how solemnly and constantly this hath ever been done in all the Assemblies of the Christian Church (k) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 paulo post 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost ad Act. 9.19 For hence they confirmed their opinions in Doctrine (l) Coimus ad literarum divinarum commemorationem Tertul. Apol. c. 39. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex. Strom. 60. and learned lessons of holiness in conversation I had rather your own Observation should inform you then spend time to tell you how carefully the Church hath selected the most practicall and pertinent Chapters omitting the more difficult or rather remitting them to private consideration where you have more leisure The Lessons suited to the solemn Festivals are determined (m) Nunc interposita est sölemnitas sanctorum dierum quibus certas ex Evangelio lectiones oportet in Ecclesi◠tractari Aug. praef in Johan and do either explain the Mistery relate the History or apply the Example unto us In fine the goodness of God in revealing and his Power in preserving these holy Books as also the Churches courage in defending them exactness in Translating and Prudence in dividing them both shew it is the great concern of all Christians to understand them and fit them so to our use that there is nothing wanting to make us wise to salvation but our diligent endeavour so to profit by them that this Grace of God and care of the Church be not bestowed on us in vain wherefore we shall desire you to observe the following directions § 4. First it is necessary that we humbly and earnestly call for the assistance of the Divine Spirit which as it did first indite so it can best explain these Oracles of Truth and also enable us to practice them And this may be done by a short and pathetical ejaculation while the Minister prepares himself to Read and if we are not ready at making such Forms we may repeat Psalm 119.180 Open thou mine eyes that I may see the wondrous things of thy Law Or ver 125. I am thy servant give me understanding that I may know thy testimonies Or if you have time you may pray by that excellent Collect the second in Order for the second Sunday of Advent Blessed Lord God who hast caused all holy Scripture c. Now by these Prayers we own God the fountain of all Wisdome and express our desires to know and do his Will and therefore no doubt they will procure us wisdome and strength Secondly labour to bring a heart purified from the love of all sin for a Lamb only can open the Seals of this Book (n) Revel 5.2 The Mahumetans write on the cover of the Alcoran Non attingat nisi Sanctus Let no unclean Person touch this and since that better agrees to Gods word we shall do well to engrave it on our memories and then we give the signification of that rite of washing the hands before the taking it up which the Christians (o) Chrysost hom 52. in Evang. Johan observed of old and the Turks at this day We cast not our seed into untilled grounds and let us not cast the more precious seed of the Divine word into unhallowed hearts (p) Jerem. 4.3 Matth. 13.4 5 c. least it be choaked with weeds or over-run with thorns or parched for want of root in us The love of sin blinds the eyes vitiates the pallate and alters the object it will make this Divine food nauseous or turn it into the nourishment of corrupt humors He only profits by Gods word that brings a pure and